Your Southern Can Is Mine
From Stripespedia
Contents |
Releases
- De Stijl (2000)
- Under Moorhead Lights All Fargo Night (2011)
Other Appearances
Credits
Performers
- Jack White: acoustic 12-string guitar, lead vocals
- Meg White: tambourine, box, backing vocals
- Blind Willie McTell
Production
- Originally written and recorded by Blind Willie McTell (as "Southern Can Mama").
- Arranged by Jack White and Meg White.
- Produced by Jack White
- Mixed by Jim Diamond and Jack White at Ghetto Recorders
- Recorded by Jack White at Third Man Studios, Detroit, at the turn of the century.
Meaning
- From SongMeanings: "This is one of my favorite songs, first done by Blind Willie McTell in 1927. At that time, at the height of the segregation system, singing any kind of open protest song would likely mean that you would wind up dead by sundown. If someone dared to protest, it would have to be done in a coded way, coded so white people could not understand it. A common form of coding back then was to sing about women when what they really meant was white people. People often deride blues as a bunch of songs about being mistreated by bad women. That's absolutely, absolutely true. And if McTell is singing about someone's southern can (i.e. southern ass) belonging to someone else, well, that may very well be social commentary. The references to violence make an awful lot more sense this way. Of course, I may be totally wrong. Yet, it's certainly worth re-listening to a lot of your old blues records and thinking about what they might be trying to say."
Band Quotes
Trivia
- Live guitar: Usually the Airline in standard tuning.
- The outro sample is from an interview with Blind Willie McTell, circa 1940. Apparently, John A. Lomax and his wife saw him playing in the street in Atlanta, Georgia, and afterwards asked him if he could record some material for them. They ended up recording this compilation in a hotel room shortly after. What's particularly interesting about these interviews is the fact that the aging Lomax comes off as a insensitive, racist asshole, possibly mistaking Blind Willie McTell for the similarly named Blind Willie Johnson. Check out the full track in the external links section below.
Lyrics
Now, lookie here, mama, let me explain you this. If you wanna get crooked, I'll even give you my fist. You might read from Revelation back to Genesis; you keep forgettin' your southern can belongs to me. So there ain't no use in bringin' no jive to me -- your southern can is mine in the mornin'; your southern can belongs to me. You might go uptown, have me arrested, put in jail. Some hotshot get money, gonna pull my bail. Soon as I get out, hit the ground, your southern can is worth a thousand, half a pound. So there ain't no use in bringin' no jive to me -- your southern can is mine (talkin' about it); your southern can belongs to me. You might take it from the south, baby, hide it up north. Understand you can't rule me and be my boss. Take it from the east and hide it in the west, but when I get you, mama, your can'll see no rest. So there ain't no use in bringin' no jive to me -- your southern can is mine (I'm screamin'); your southern can belongs to me. Now, baby, ashes to ashes, sand to sand. When I hit ya, mama, then you feel my hand. Give you a punch through that barbed-wire fence -- when it hit ya, baby, y'know I make no sense. So there ain't no use in bringin' no jive to me -- your southern can is mine (I know it); your southern can belongs to me. Now look here, woman, don't get hot. I'm gettin' me a brick outta my backyard, so there ain't no use in bringin' no jive to me -- your southern can is mine (I'm talkin' about it); your southern can belongs to me. Well, if I catch you, mama, down in the heart of town, I'm gonna grab me a brick and tear your can on down, so there ain't no use in bringin' no jive to me -- your southern can is mine (I know it); your southern can belongs to me. You maybe get bedsick, 'cause you're graveyard bound. I'm gonna make you moan like a graveyard hound, so there ain't no use in bringin' no jive to me -- your southern can is mine (I'm screamin'); your southern can belongs to me.
